Police chief quits amid financial inquiry

The chief constable of Dyfed-Powys police, Terry Grange, has retired with immediate effect following allegations of financial irregularities being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the force said today.

The Dyfed-Powys Police Authority said in a statement it had "accepted with regret the retirement of Chief Constable Terence Grange with immediate effect".

Last Thursday, the IPCC said it was conducting an investigation into an unnamed Dyfed-Powys police officer "concerning misuse of the police computer system and alleged financial irregularities".

In a brief statement today, the IPCC said it could confirm that the officer concerned was Grange, who has led the Dyfed-Powys force since March 2000,

The statement continued: "It would be inappropriate for the IPCC to comment further at this stage but it will make a detailed public statement in due course."

The police authority said Grange had "indicated that he had allowed his private life to interfere with his professional role as chief constable".

A former Parachute brigade soldier, Grange joined the Metropolitan Police in 1971, also working with the Avon and Somerset force before taking the chief constable's post at Dyfed-Powys.

Grange is spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers on child protection and managing sex offenders.

In November last year he was criticised for allegedly telling a newspaper that men who had sex with children should not be classed as paedophiles if their victim was aged between 13 and 15.

Grange insisted he had been misquoted by the Sunday Times and had only been referring to sex between teenage boys and girls of that age.